And the whole “World of Tanks” is not enough – Newspaper Kommersant No. 61 (7506) dated 04/10/2023

As it became known to Kommersant, the Lesta Games studio (the publisher of the World of Tanks and World of Ships games) began to replenish the portfolio with new assets: the company acquired from Tencent the rights to publish and develop the multiplayer game Royal Quest in Russia. Sources say that in the future the studio will both acquire other people’s games and develop new ones of its own, as the company needs to reduce its dependence on Wargaming.

According to two Kommersant sources in the video game market, Lesta (Lesta Games, publishes World of Tanks and World of Ships in Russia and Belarus) acquired the rights to publish the Royal Quest multiplayer role-playing game Royal Quest from the Cypriot Fulqrum Publishing Ltd. Fulqrum Publishing Ltd is part of Fulqrum Games, which has been owned by the Chinese holding Tencent since 2021 (before that it was part of 1C and was called 1C Entertainment). Kommersant’s source in the venture fund suggests that, taking into account the proceeds of the game, the deal could amount to $10-12 million. Kommersant’s interlocutor, who is familiar with the deal, however, claims that this is not a purchase, but a “transfer”. The founder of rawg.io, Gadzhi Makhtiev, admits that the deal was cashless: “The parties could have agreed to share the proceeds.”

Lesta Games will deal with the operation and further development of Royal Quest, Lesta said in a statement to Kommersant: “For the company, this is the first experience of obtaining a third-party project. Going forward, Lesta Games is considering operating other online games that require an integrated approach in terms of technology, work with the gaming community and marketing.” Fulqrum did not respond with “Kommersant”.

Prior to the outbreak of hostilities by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, Lesta LLC was a division of Wargaming (World of Tanks, World of Warships). In April 2022, Wargaming announced its withdrawal from Russia and Belarus. Lesta received the rights to games in these countries under the brands World of Tanks and World of Ships, Wargaming – on the international market. According to SPARK-Interfax, Lesta LLC is 99% owned by Hong Kong-based Lesta Hongkong LTD and 1% by Lesta Games Agency. The general director of the company is Malik Khatazhaev. He, according to Kommersant’s sources, is the beneficiary. Lesta’s revenue in 2022 amounted to RUB 3.7 billion. with a net profit of 365.4 million rubles.

An interlocutor of Kommersant in an international video game company believes that Royal Quest will not bring large revenue to Lesta in the near future: “The project is niche, has a small audience and requires investments in restarting and updating. This game for Lesta is rather an opportunity to train the team to develop and support new projects.” If Lesta is now a truly independent player who is not associated with Wargaming, the logic of actions is clear, another source of Kommersant adds: the company needs to diversify its portfolio as quickly as possible in order to reduce dependence on Wargaming. The latter, he believes, “most likely, is still connected with Lesta by relations, and if they break, the development of the tank and ship direction will be complicated.”

“Lesta” will continue to expand its portfolio of projects, the interlocutor of “Kommersant” believes in the Russian gaming market. He is sure that these will be new directions. Venture partner of the Voskhod fund Artur Martirosov notes two trends in the Russian gaming market. On the one hand, there are new small development studios. On the other hand, large players either absorb those who have projects at an early stage, or restart old games. “In the case of Lesta, the bet is on the restart of Royal Quest for distribution in the Russian Federation. In the genre of MMO (massively multiplayer online game.— “b”) there is potential for growth due to the departure of foreign players – for example, Activision Blizzard,” he says. It’s too early to talk seriously about the consolidation of the gaming market in the hands of a number of large developers, says Pavel Moseykin, co-founder of XYZ School and CEO of Ultimate Education, but “processes are definitely moving in this direction.”

Nikita Korolev